Category: Sko

I have really been looking forward to lasting my boots and breaking in my new beautiful lasting nails. It might seem a bit geeky to obsess about the aesthetics of something as practical as nails, and actually it wasn’t until I saw these copper plated lasting nails on Instagram, I realized that I would not be able to live without fabulous nails. Blackbird is a series of products, specially develoved for hand shoemaking and other creative purposes. I have acquired a selection of their many different nails, in various metals and shapes, that I am just waiting to find a purpose for using. My first experience with the slender lasting nails is really positive. They are easy to work with as they have a good length without bending too easy. And did I mention how beautiful they look?

I prepare the welt by skiving the edge at one side and cutting a groove on the other. They are left to soak in water for a couple of hours to soften them.

The holes in the holdfast are refreshed with a curved awl, at the same time making a hole in the upper and the welt. All parts are sewn together using two curved needles.

Finished welting. It was a tough job, but I am very satisfied. I kept getting better along the way, so I think my second boot will be a little bit easier.

Now that the uppers are sewn and the insoles prepared, it is time for the first lasting. The upper is moistened to make the leather more flexible, and using the shoemakers pliers, it is pulled in shape over the instep, heel and toe. This will be the first and roughest of the lastings, so the nails are placed a little bit further apart than I intend to do on the final. The boots are then left to dry until next day.

The outer leather is carefully pulled back while the lining stays on the last. Placement marks for the toe caps are made on the lining. The toe cap is made of vegetable tanned leather, skived to nothing at the edges and sanded down with sand paper. It is soaked in homemade shoemakers paste and lasted on the toe. Finally it is compressed with a shoemakers hammer to obtain stability of the leather.

Here is the lasted toe cap, now left to dry before the next process. The heel cap is done in the same way.

My first pair of shoes were made with a cemented rand tape and sole, which was a fairly big challenge, not having received any kind of introduction to shoemaking. This time I will obviously push my own limits once again, trying out the much more durable welted construction. A template is sketched onto the bottom of the insole. This is cut out as shown in the picture below, leaving an edge for sewing on the upper.

Then holes for sewing are made with a curved awl. It takes a very sharp awl, a lot of bees wax and hard work. Halfway through the first sole, I was so unlucky, (read: uncareful) the awl slipped into my own left hand! It gave me a few weeks break from shoemaking and I started thinking of new alternative ways for this task. I just bought a new tool, a Dremel 3000, which I am hoping will do the job of drilling the holes. Besides, it is a very clever tool for many other creative projects on which I promise to make a post or two in the future. First of all, I am hoping it will solve this job for me, maybe in combination with the curved awl…

Bootmaking introduces a whole new challenge for me in my autodidact shoemaking apprenticeship. Before stitching together the upper, it is necessary to crimp the vamp to get the right curve at the wrist. Once again, I wish there was a local shoemakers store nearby. But I think I need to realise that there aren’t many hobby shoemakers like me here in Denmark, so I guess the market is a bit too small. Luckily my very handy colleague kindly crafted me a pair of crimping boards. The vamps are soaked in water and then pulled over the curve. It requires some patience and hard work, but gradually the leather begins to take shape and finally lies smoothly at the curve. The leather is left to dry before the nails are pulled out and the vamps can be removed from the boards.

The last has been taped, the pattern is drawn on and cut out. Here I am working on the placement of the hole pattern. For a more detailed description on the development of a shoe pattern, see this former post.

I did it! Only a few finishing touches left to do before I have passed the creative test I have put on myself. It has been a great challenge, thus an equally great personal victory for me to have managed to make my own genuinely handmade shoes, based on research on the internet alone. No doubt, I have spent more hours researching than actually working on the shoes. I am very satisfied with the result. After removing the lasts, I made an insole of cork covered with lining leather. For the fininshing touches, the shoes have been given a clear polish and the seams and brogue details are enhanced with a small amount of brown leather dye.

And finally a picture from a proud first day wearing new homemade shoes. I was very happy to find that they are very comfortable to wear. These shoes will definitely not be the last from these rookie shoemaker hands.

It is time for making the soles of my oxford shoes. A piece of sole leather is cut a little bigger than the bottom of the shoe. Before the soles is glued on with contact cement, both sides are sanded down.

Sålen skæres til langs randbåndet.

The sole is cut along the rand tape.

Sålens nederste kant afrundes med en kantskærer.

The bottom edge of the sole is rounded off with an edge bevelling tool.

For this first “real” pair of shoes I am making, I have chosen a cemented construction. I am sure I will be trying my luck with the more advanced goodyear welted version later on, but one has to begin somewhere. It is possible to buy premade rand tape by the inch, but I made my own, primarily because I could only find them in Australian and American webshops, and didn’t have the patience to wait for it to arrive. The edge of a thin leatherstrap is cut to make it flexible enough to be glued along the curve of the heel and toe.

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Thank You for stopping by my blog. Here You can follow my creative life as designer and brand manager of the childrenswear brands EN FANT, small rags, FIXONI and Nordic Label accompanied by my many personal projects. If You share my passion for design, shoemaking, knitting, illustration, interior and all things that reeks of aesthetics, I would love for You to stick around.
Lene Rix